Morning Exercise: Persona in the Playground (Social Link)

[Mokou-tan]

It was Saturday morning and Tsubaki was out in front of the dorms, doing her morning drills. Normally she did them by the river, but today she felt like deviating from her routine, if only a little. She made wide sweeping, spinning slashes forming what looked like a beautiful dance that required great amounts coordination and training. Sometimes she altered her steps to cut leaves falling from the tree without losing the grace inherent in the previous movements. Every so often, her entire stance would shift and punches and kicks were added to her martial training, still failing to lose the graceful qualities of some form of ballet. She noticed Asami coming out of the dorms and shifted to a neutral stance before speaking. Ooooosu~! Mornin' Asami! What brings you out this morning?"

[Kioku]

Asami's gets a wide smile as she steps outside only to be greeted immediately by Tsubaki. "Good morning! I don't usually see you here on my way out!" She doesn't look nearly like usual, with her elbow-patched long sleeved shirt, padded half-fingered gloves instead of her usual lace ones, hair tied back in a pony tail, running shoes, and... do stores even have pants like those? The girl runs across the raised area next to the steps and hops down to the grass. "Isn't it lovely out for the couple hours just before dawn? I'm out every day running... I suppose that answers your question. Is this why you're not often in the room when I get ready?"

[Mokou-tan]

Tsubaki leans forward, holding her naginata to support herself as she examines Asami's outfit. "Yeah, I've got to rise earlier than the sun and let my spirit roar like a tiger." She finishes appraising Asami's clothing as she speaks. I give it a pass. Looks like good exercise clothing. "Running's good exercise. Make sure to work on your upper body as well, though. You're a girl though, so something that builds lean muscle would be good for you. I know with my tiny figure it's hard to believe, but I'm really strong despite it." She pauses for a moment. "Mind if I join you on your run?"

[Kioku]

Asami giggles. "Well, I say running... but it doesn't strictly speaking stay to the ground, for the route I had planned today. Probably the only upper-body training I get, come to think of it..." She walks while talking to close the distance. "I like your company, so of course you can join me! Although, you might not like the exact course I'd planned for today. Not without some padding for your hands and knees, at the very least... Ah, but I can change the route if you like!"

[Mokou-tan]

Tsubaki giggles at the suggestion of gloves and pads for her protection. "That sounds a bit like.... Pa-a-ko-a-a." She blushes a little, having obvious trouble with the foreign word and her native language creating a small barrier. "A-anyway, you shouldn't have to change your route. Remember when you first moved in? I didn't even remember I was cut up at the time. Plus, I camp in Hokkaido sometimes." She quickly started to bind her naginata and sling it over her back. Note to self, conquer France for making hard words to say. Then burn it down to ensure they don't make any new words. Isn't that a little harsh, Little Hero? The ENTIRE country, Setanta. All of it. No survivors. I'm not helping. "Shut up, Setanta." After a brief moment, she realizes she said the last bit out loud.

[Kioku]

Asami frowns slightly at the memory of Tsubaki being cut up, but considers what she's saying and shrugs. At the sudden small outburst, the tall girl covers her mouth to hide her reaction, but if one listens carefully a small laugh escapes. "I talk to Tam too, you know. It used to be aloud almost all the time. Others didn't seem to appreciate that much..." She hops in place a couple times, eying the weapon. "You sure that won't get in the way, or cause someone to call the police? Well, let's be off then I suppose!"

[Mokou-tan]

Tsubaki chuckles a little at Asami's question about the weapon. "Oh yeah, you don't do weapon-arts. If it's wrapped up in cloth like this, I can, and do, take it into classes even. As long as I don't take it out and start hitting people with it, I'm in as much trouble as a baseball player with their bat. Especially since I'm in what are typically training clothes. Well, sorta. I'm not wearing the shirt right now, but my point still stands." She did a little stretch and smiled her big, friendly smile. "Yes, let's go!" She waited for Asami to start and ran a half step behind her, close enough to chat, yet far enough for her to mimic Asami without too much trouble.

[Kioku]

Asami all but dashes for the fence and vaults it once the words are out of Tsubaki's mouth, then sets a mild pace toward an area with a large network of back alleys and side streets. "I'm glad you're with me. I haven't had to face down any creeps out here so far, but you never know." She takes the first right into an alley and within seconds has forged a path upward to the roof of a two-story building, which she tumbles off the edge of after barely a few moments, skipping what would have been thrice as far to go by street. This sets the tone for a 5 kilometer run that will promise to require precision in nigh every step - she acts like she's mapped this route ahead of time, and shows serious faith in Tsubaki's abilities to learn it on the fly... except that it isn't faith if you know for sure.

I'd prefer not to describe every twist and turn, so shall we keep it to dialogue and specific moments that occur during it? :smallbiggrin:

[Mokou-tan]

Tsubaki follows after Asami with her chosen distance, quickly mimicking most of her movements. "Oh yeah, that's right. Miyuki told you about me throwing that guy.... Into another guy. Well, you're a fast runner, so-" Tsubaki overshoots the turn a bit and reflexively runs on the wall a short distance to stop from slamming into it. She watches Asami drop before doing so herself, rolling like she was taught many times at the bottom, carefully placing her naginata in the center of her, against her stomach, so it wouldn't smash into the ground and get damaged.

Let's

[Kioku]

"What, last week at school? I'm sure she made it sound more impressive than it actually was." Asami dives between a pair of what, for our purposes, amounts to a pair of horizontal bars before continuing. "You probably would have done it- eep!" She twists around an oncoming bicyclist that forces her to cartwheel onto an object instead of simply wall-running to it. "Done it easier! I had to get in way too close so he got distracted, to get any good leverage. Perverts are really easy to take down, but I wish I could summon kunai outside of you-know-where." A quick hop over a puddle just before the street dead-ends, and the path becomes almost entirely vertical. "Or that I could do something without resorting to that or having them make the first move."

[Mokou-tan]

"Huh? No, she wasn't exaggerating. I lifted him off the ground and threw him into his friend." Tsubaki's voice is very plain and innocent, as though she doesn't understand the difficulty in believing such a feat could be done with her body. She mimics the dive through, but not the bicycle evasion, instead leaping over the bicyclist for her evasion. "I was suggesting you just run. The best tools one has for a situation is their legs and their head. Running and knowing when one should. Unless there's something you have to protect, run. If Miyuki is with you, kick him in the jewels, knee him in the stomach and slam your heel on his spine. Most men don't want to stand after that."

[Kioku]

"Oh! Sorry, I misheard. "Told me about you" rather than "told you about me." A guy was harassing her last week, like I said, so... yeah, I threw him. It was kind of demeaning. But yeah, I remember she said you two met that way. Guess it's a shared theme now." Finally, about 30 feet off the ground, there's a small gap. Trust me. "Oh, Kami, I didn't think we were going through this way... Well!" Asami darts through the gap and starts laughing halfway through as she realizes exactly where she's going to end up. "Hey, grab my wrists!" She shouts with a wild smile on her face.

She'll respond to the rest of last post's text, next post. Time continuity!

[Mokou-tan]

Tsubaki smiles at finding out Asami had protected Miyuki. I'm glad someone is looking out for her when I'm not around. Tsubaki quickly half-mimics Asami as she goes through, compensating or her weapon as she does and grabs onto Asami's wrists.

[Kioku]

Asami uses the added momentum to let herself be pushed over and flipped upside-down and hooks her feet onto a bar on the underside of a bar, swinging the pair both up and a little further, before tucking her feet back again then kicking up and out to strike the bar. The end result is the two girls being propelled just barely onto an elevated rail track. Asami can't seem to stop laughing in delight, but manages to gasp out, "legs and head? I can agree with that, but a friend always helps!"

[Mokou-tan]

Tsubaki laughs with Asami as she looks at her watch to check the time. "Usually. Though, sometimes they're way heavy. Alright, we're in the clear right now. You can set your watch to the trains. Super punctual, super fast and make you super dead if they hit you. It sounds painful. And messy. And painful." The little girl smiles to Asami as she brushes herself off.

[Kioku]

Asami gets up, finally starting to recover from her laughter. "Right, right, trains... hehe... ah... those walls are close enough together." She hops off of the elevated rail and bounces between a pair of facing walls to slow her momentum, not even needing a roll at the bottom to distribute the force, then looks up and takes off running again. "Hey, could you imagine if we'd landed on top of a train just as it was starting moving again from a stop?"

[Mokou-tan]

Tsubaki follows suit, though sliding down the wall instead of bouncing. "I think we'd need a bunch of ninja for that to be really fun. Not too many, the more of them there are, the weaker they are. I'd say 10 of them could be fun. Unless there was a low overpass. I'd hate to win or lose due to that." She hops on top of a narrow wall and does several handsprings down its length before leaping off.

[Kioku]

Nothing *quite* so exciting happened for the rest of the run, but there were a few times that it was close. Asami inevitably got a couple new rips in her clothes, but just shrugged saying that they'd be easy needlework when they got back. Finally, after about a 4 km circuit, the two reach a park only about 1.5 km from the dorm. "That... was really fun. Thanks so much for joining me, I don't think I've enjoyed a run that much since I started." Even though she's got several scrapes, Asami doesn't seem to be sweating or out of breath. "Hey, you want to relax around here or do something else for a while? After all that, the route back to the dorm seems a little boring. Good for a cooldown, but way too straightforward."

[Mokou-tan]

Tsubaki was similarly fine comparative to the exercise she just did. "No problem, it's good to change up your training every once in a while." She steps over to a vending machine and puts coins in, selecting her drink and then motioning to Asami. "Pick one. I already put the coins in for yours. You're going to want to take a short break." Tsubaki had a mischievous grin on her face as she spoke. "After all, you don't want to need to wait for your opponent to strike first all the time, right?"

[Kioku]

Asami tries to protest the drink, but before the words can get out, she just slumps over and walks to the vending machine, shaking her head. She quirks an eyebrow at Tsubaki regarding first strike, and slowly lifts her head at an angle, a disturbing grin slowly spreading. "Oh, but I do like where this is going..."

[Mokou-tan]

Tsubaki sits on a bench as she takes a few sips, propping her naginata against her seat. "I have Ba Ji Quan to fall back on when I don't have my naginata with me. Or when I just need to punch someone. Or break a door. It's faster than tackling it like they do on tv." Tsubaki was either ignoring the creepy smile or just didn't mind, she herself got that way at times, after all.

[Kioku]

Asami gets a drink out of the machine and goes to lean against a nearby tree while sipping at it. "That sounds useful... I don't think I have the right muscle groups developed for explosive action to do much, but if you're implying what it sounds like, it might be nice to learn anyway. Maybe I can adapt something!"

[Mokou-tan]

Tsubaki laughs a bit at Asami's comment about muscle groupings. "That's silly. Martial arts were originally developed for the weak to overcome the strong through technique instead of brute force. Then you build enough strength to overcome one of similar skill." She gets up and moves herself over to a tree with thick bark across from the one Asami is leaning against, setting her can down before speaking. "I'll scale it back a couple years to show you what I mean." Tsubaki took a low stance and her hands were held loosely and slightly open. She made her first strike against the tree, a downward raking one. Quickly followed by the next two followup blows with her left fist and elbow. The result was a large section of bark being removed from the tree. "That is a technique used by Li Shuwen. Its name roughly translates to 'Fierce Tiger Forcibly Climbs a Mountain.' I managed to tear some of the bark off this tree. He managed to use it to break open the gates to Dojo. While there is a great difference in power, it is still a formidable set of blows, even while only using the amount of strength I had two years ago." She shook out her right hand while retrieving her can and taking a drink.

[Kioku]

"Wow... The only really proactive things I know how to do are things I've recently adapted from fights with Shadows. Makajam and Pulinpa are the easiest without either making me feel awkward or letting Tam take over. I think I'd really like to understand how you do that though! I..." Asami shuffles her feet a little, obviously thinking how to phrase something. "You're really admirable, you know that?" She eventually blurts out.

[Mokou-tan]

Tsubaki walks over and gently pats Asami's head, giggling as she does. "So, my first admirer is a girl. Looks like I owe my sister a visit to see what she wants as a prize." Tsubaki lets out a somber little laugh as she looks up at the sky. "I've been fighting and training for years now. I had a reason to fight before I got pulled into this, I have more reason now that I am part of this. I'm just someone who can only move forward. All I can do is claw at whatever enemy I face. I suppose I should tell you how I manage to be so strong, though." She smiles to Asami with those words. "I read up on those 'Evokers' after Soga showed me their existence. Do you know how they work?" Her tone of voice gave the feeling that if Asami didn't know, Tsubaki would explain it, having not known herself without research into it, being able to manifest naturally in the other world herself.

[Kioku]

Asami pales at the mention of Evokers. "Yes..." she replies in a faint whisper.
I WON'T DIE.
"Yes, I know how they are. I know exactly how they work..." She closes her eyes before being able to continue. "Relying on such a device would be a hindrance."

[Mokou-tan]

Tsubaki nods at Asami's response. "Humans without a Persona do something naturally when in that situation. In that state, you get a lot stronger. Your body pulls out all the stops to try and survive. For the longest time, I've tapped into that state. Whenever I fight, I force my body to think it's going to die and removes as many limits as it can stand. In other words, I didn't have to learn anything to use a Persona. I'm already doing it out here to be stronger. I'm not adapting my strength in there to out here. I'm adapting my strength out here to in there and Cu Chulainn picks up the slack." She chuckles softly when she finishes her explanation.

[Kioku]

"I see... you really can just do it so easily, from training so much and controlling yourself." Asami smirks a little through her shivering. "And here you'd bet against having admirers. I wish that method worked for me. See, for the fear and stress of dying to be enough of a trigger..." She shakes her head, unable to continue. "It just isn't. Sometimes calling Tam into myself feels so easy, comes so naturally, but not in battle. It's the wrong type of stressor. It isn't potent on its own."

[Mokou-tan]

Tsubaki gives a joyful little laugh at the 'bet.' "I never said I bet against ever having one. My sister just said my first admirer would be a girl. I told her if she was right, I'd get her a prize. Though, it's not a fear of death itself. I'm not afraid of dying. Everyone dies. I'm not going to die before I've made up for what I did though, no matter the cost."

[Kioku]

Asami takes Tsubaki's free hand and holds its arm captive against herself. "Wh.. what you did?" She whispers with a sorrowful and imploring look.

[Mokou-tan]

Tsubaki looks up at Asami with remorseful eyes, being far shorter than her friend. "I damaged something important, that can't be fixed."

[Kioku]

Asami flicks her gaze away, a note of regret in it. "Sorry, I shouldn't pry..." She turns toward the bench looking downward, still having not let go of Tsubaki's hand or moved it from herself. "Do you want to just go back to the dorm? Running or training now just... doesn't seem appropriate."

[Mokou-tan]

Sorry, I was told not to tell anyone. Maybe... Tsubaki nods. "Yeah, sorry about that. Umm... Friday, after school, can you come with me to see my sister? It's just a short train ride and the company would be nice..."

[Kioku]

"Huh? I mean... sure, I'll come with you. Yeah, that sounds like a good idea, I haven't taken the trains since getting here, since school isn't *that* far away by foot." Asami seems rather distracted, but still 'here' enough to answer. She tugs Tsubaki over to the bench to get her naginata so they can go.

[Mokou-tan]

Tsubaki picks up her naginata and smiles. "Alright, then. I'll set everything up later. She doesn't do any physical training or anything, so she should be sleeping in like a normal girl her age."

[Kioku]

Asami nods and begins the walk back to the dorm. She doesn't even notice that she's still holding the other girl's hand unless it's pointed out. I'll get to meet her family. I guess that's... nice? Friends meet each others' families, when it's... possible...